The Stuttgarter RC is a German rugby union club from Stuttgart, currently playing in the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga.
History
Predecessors The origins of the club go back to 1934 when the first Stuttgarter Rugby Club was formed. The club disappeared and was later reformed in 1958.Geschichte des Stuttgarter Rugby Club History of the SRC, accessed: 6 April 2010
The new club joined the PSG Stuttgart shortly after re-formation and, under this name, won a first Southern German championship in 1971. It took almost 20 years for PSG to repeat this success, winning the championship once more in 1990 and earning promotion to the Rugby-Bundesliga.
The early 1990s were to become club's most successful era, reaching the final of the German league cup twice and winning it in 1992. In 1995 however, it suffered relegation from the Bundesliga and, the year after, dropped to the third division Rugby-Regionalliga. In 1997 finally, PSG was declared bankrupt and the rugby era at the club finished.
Current club A new Stuttgarter Rugby Club was formed the following year and formed an on-the-field union with TV Pforzheim. The new team won the Southern German championship once more but SRC decided to terminate the partnership with TVP and retained an independent team in the Regionalliga.
In this league, it finished runners-up in 2006, followed by a championship the year after, which was won without a defeat. It followed up with a title in the Southern German Regionalliga championship and promotion to the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West.
The club finished second in the league in its first season there, but only managed a ninth place in 2009. In 2009-10, the team was back at the top of the table and won the South/West championship as well as the 2nd Bundesliga one, but indicated that it would not take up promotion to the Bundesliga.Victoria Linden verzichtet auf den Bundesligaaufstieg , totalrugby.de, published: 27 May 2010, accessed: 29 May 2010RC gewinnt Zweitligameisterschaft - verzichtet aber dennoch auf den Aufstieg , totalrugby.de, published: 31 May 2010, accessed: 1 June 2010 The club also has a successful women's team, which plays at the highest level in Germany, the Women's Rugby Bundesliga, but has yet to win a national championship at this level.
The season after its 2nd Bundesliga title, the club finished on a relegation spot and dropped down to the 3rd Liga South/West for 2011-12. The team finished third in the southern division in 2012 but was knocked out in the semi-finals and initially missed out on promotion. However, a league expansion saw the club return to the 2nd Bundesliga for 2012-13. In the 2012-13 season the club competed in the 2nd Bundesliga, finishing in the lower half of the table and qualifying for the play-offs for the Liga-Pokal. The club advanced to the final of the Liga-Pokal where it narrowly lost 13-12 to Bremen 1860.
The club qualified for the south-west division of the Liga-Pokal in 2013–14 and was knocked out by Neckarsulmer SU in the semi-finals of the play-offs. In the 2014–15 season the club finished sixth in the south-west Liga-Pokal group and was knocked out by TSV Handschuhsheim II in the quarter-finals of the play-off after a first round win over USV Jena.
Club honours Southern German rugby union championship Champions: 1971, 1990, 1999, 2007 German rugby union league cup Winner: 1992 Runners up: 1991 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West Champions: 2010 Runners up: 2008 Rugby-Regionalliga Baden-Württemberg Champions: 2007 Runners up: 2006
Recent seasons Recent seasons of the club:RugbyWeb Ergebnisarchiv rugbyweb.de - Results archive, accessed: 24 July 2012
Men Year Division Position 2000-01 Rugby-Regionalliga Baden-Württemberg (III) 2001-02 Rugby-Regionalliga Baden-Württemberg 4th 2002-03 Rugby-Regionalliga Baden-Württemberg 5th 2003-04 Rugby-Regionalliga Baden-Württemberg 3rd 2004-05 Rugby-Regionalliga Baden-Württemberg 2005-06 Rugby-Regionalliga Baden-Württemberg 2nd 2006–07 Rugby-Regionalliga Baden-Württemberg 1st — Promoted 2007–08 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West 2nd 2008–09 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West 9th 2009–10 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West (II) 1st 2010–11 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West 9th — Relegated 2011–12 3rd Liga South/West (III) 3rd — Semi finals 2012–13 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga qualification round – South 5th Liga-Pokal – South-West 3rd — Runners-up 2013–14 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga qualification round – South 4th Liga-Pokal – South-West 3rd — Semi finals 2014–15 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga qualification round – South 6th Liga-Pokal – South-West 6th — Quarter finals 2015–16 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South 7th Until 2001, when the single-division Bundesliga was established, the season was divided in autumn and spring, a Vorrunde and Endrunde, whereby the top teams of the Rugby-Bundesliga would play out the championship while the bottom teams together with the autumn 2nd Bundesliga champion would play for Bundesliga qualification. The remainder of the 2nd Bundesliga teams would play a spring round to determine the relegated clubs. Where two placing's are shown, the first is autumn, the second spring. In 2012 the Bundesliga was expanded from ten to 24 teams and the 2nd Bundesliga from 20 to 24 with the leagues divided into four regional divisions.
Women Year Division Position 2004-05 2005-06 Women's 2nd Rugby Bundesliga 1st 2006–07 Women's 2nd Rugby Bundesliga (II) 1st 2007–08 Women's Rugby Bundesliga (I) 5th 2008–09 Women's Rugby Bundesliga 4th 2009–10 Women's Rugby Bundesliga 3rd 2010–11 Women's Rugby Bundesliga 10th 2011–12 Women's Rugby Bundesliga 5th 2012–13 Women's Rugby Bundesliga 5th 2013–14 Women's Rugby Bundesliga 7th 2014–15 Women's Rugby Bundesliga 6th 2015–16
References
External links Official website Stuttgarter RC club info at totalrugby.de